Core grant support for the vision research activities at the University of Pittsburgh will enhance our capacity to bring both laboratory and clinical techniques to bear on investigations of the mechanisms and management of blinding diseases. As a recently formed and independent research organization. The Eye and Ear Institute of Pittsburgh serves as the primary locus for the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh. As an independently funded and managed research institution. The Institute is committed to a highly focused research effort which stresses collaboration between basic scientists and clinical investigators. In this application we seek to enhance the sharing of both basic and clinical research techniques and instrumentation. An Administrative Module and five other modules in addition to our recently awarded, separately-funded Clinical Vision Research Center (CVRC) are described. These include modules devoted to: (1) molecular biology; (2) morphology, (3) hybridoma applications; (4) image processing; and (5) an electronics shop. In all cases, these facilities and services are heavily used by a number of investigators. In many other cases, the presence of the module will permit experiments by investigators who otherwise would have been unable to undertake a new line of experimentation. By emphasizing the availability of state-of-the-art support services, our researchers will expand their view of how to approach investigative problems, bypassing the inherent limitations of "single-techniques, who will perceive ophthalmology research at The Eye and Ear Institute as a and facilitated. Our contemporary Core facilities also will attract collaboration from other disciplines at the University of Pittsburgh and its affiliated institutions.